The survey of constipation and Sub-Health of elderly in Nanjing

Objective To investigate the prevalence of constipation, and the relationship between constipation and sub health in elderly. Methods 3731 elderly aged ≥ 60 years were investigated using a cluster random sampling methods. Results The prevalence of constipation reached 24 0%, and significantly increased with advancing age ( P 0 01). The prevalence of sub health in the constipation group was higher significantly than that of non constipation group. The prevalence of sub health with over three kinds of symptom was 64.6% for constipation individual, which was high significantly compared with non constipation individual (42 7% P 0 01). Conclusions A high prevalence of constipation was found in elderly aged over 60 years. The elderly with constipation may be vulnerable to sub health symptoms. The results suggest that preventing constipation may play an important role for reducing sub health symptoms in elderly.